Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: The return of Dragon, Falcon Heavy & Intelsat, Orbital Sciences, Antares rocket, Cygnus capsule, COTS. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog,https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. During our 11.5 minute discussion, we talked about the Dragon return from the ISS, the SpaceX agreement to launch a satellite for Intelsat on the Falcon Heavy, COTS, NASA, and commercial space. We also discussed Orbital Sciences and their COTS program consisting of the Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo capsule.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them on The Space Show blog per above. If you want to email John Batchelor, please do so through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guest: Gary Hudson. Topic: Variable gravity research station as a free flyer near the ISS. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Gary Hudson, President of the Space Studies Institute, to discuss the Space Studies Institute variable gravity research station program known as G-Lab. You can read about G-Lab at http://ssi.org/2012/04/ssi-update-april-2012-introduction-to-g-lab. To find out more about The Space Studies Institute, please visit http://ssi.org. In our first segment, Gary Hudson provided us with an overview of the data points we have on the effect of microgravity on the human body dating back from the beginning of the space age. If the goal is the permanent human expansion and settlement in space, we have very few if any data points, yet we need this information if we are to expand beyond short trips to the ISS or another turnaround lunar mission. In terms of artificial gravity, we don’t know what levels humans require other than we know we are designed for 1 G. As Gary pointed out several times during our discussion, the permanent settlement in space implies families, child birth, and the things that we do here on Earth but we are lacking any meaningful and relevant information to make this possible The G-Lab concept is to be able to do long term properly designed centrifuge research in free flying labs around the ISS, doing animal studies in lunar, possibly Martian, and Earth gravity. The experiments would be long term, properly designed by researchers with NASA as well as other institutions. Financing the project would be in segments and phases and involve the private sector & the public sector. Mr. Hudson described five phases with the first three phases being privately funded while the last two a combination of public/private funding. The Falcon Heavy is a possible launch vehicle but so are other launchers.

In our second segment, we started off with a listener question about a Space Review article suggestion the Dragon be used for microgravity experiments in support of a human Mars Mission. You can read the article by Tom Hill at www.thespacereview.com/article/2089/1. Gary commented on this but remained focused on their project supporting permanent settlement in space, not just a trip to Mars. This is an important distinction so do listen to how Gary explains this difference. Other listeners asked Gary questions based on other Space Show programs/guests dealing with genetic modification and the need to work with gravity here on Earth as we age. Listeners suggested simpler experiments. One person suggested using insects but Gary made it clear that animals with a backbone were essential for these studies. As the segment was drawing to a close, Gary mentioned a few of the challenges other than funding including power, life support, human crew needs, keeping the lab animals healthy, and being able to carry out all the needed experiments. We talked about funding and Gary mentioned philanthropic naming opportunities for the centrifuge labs just as donors name buildings at hospitals and universities here on Earth. If you have comments/questions for Gary Hudson, please post them on the Space Show blog.

If you want to get in touch with Gary specifically for this project, you can e-mail him through their website by using the About tab, then selecting Officers and Board.

Guest: Dr. John Lewis. Topics: Asteroid mining, Chinese space program. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Dr. John Lewis to discuss asteroid mining and the Chinese space program. You can order Mining The Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets by Dr. Lewis as we talked about his book throughout our program. If you use this Amazon URL, Amazon will make a donation To The Space Show/OGLF: www.amazon.com/Mining-The-Sky-Asteroids-Planets/dp/0201328194/ref=onegiantlea20. Our first segment focused in on asteroid mining, where are today, its future, legal issues to be settled, risks, and more. Near the end of this segment, we also talked about the Law of the Sea Treaty, the common heritage of mankind and revenue sharing ideas, all of which would be detrimental to asteroid mining and expanding space commerce. Earlier Dr. Lewis referenced the Keck study, The Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study which says we can capture a certain size NEO and put it in orbit around the Moon. Dr. Lewis carefully went through the pros and cons of doing this.

In the second segment, Tim called in and continued the revenue sharing and common heritage discussion. Dr. Lewis then cited his family history dating back to 1625 coming from theNetherlands with the West Indies Company, then staying here and moving west rather than returning to theNetherlands. He drew parallels with this and potential space settlement and risk taking. Next, we talked about the Chinese space program, their space station, the upcoming taikonaut launch in June and the fact that they are actually “bending metal” in making hardware for going to the Moon, unlike the Indian program which is still largely talk. Near the end of the segment, we talked about lunar mining, the needed future vision and leadership, the need to be a multi-planet species and why. Our discussion with Dr. Lewis is full of important information so I urge you to carefully listen to this program and use the internet to follow up on many of the topics and issues he brings to our attention. For example, you might find it interesting to see the 1926 Plan of Space Exploration as developed by Tsiolkovsky (www.informatics.org/museum/tsiol.html).

Guest: Dr. Scott Pace. Topics: Space policy, COTS, HSF safety, commercial space & more. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Dr. Scott Pace back to the program for a comprehensive discussion on a variety of topics impacting space policy, commercial space, and both our civil and entrepreneurial space communities. We started our first segment with a summary of the AIAA-IAF Global Space Exploration Conference held last week inWashington,DC. We talked about the international make-up of the conference, the focus on budget issues, commercial space, and some of the different issues of concern to Europe, Asia, and theU.S. We also talked about the impact on the Europeans of theU.S. terminating certain space program partnerships as the Europeans do four year planning and budgeting unlike theU.S. which is year to year. Our first caller was Michael Listner about the European Code of Conduct for Outer Space. This was a comprehensive and important discussion on a subject that we are sure to hear more about over time. TheU.S. may even sign on to it so I strongly suggest everyone pay attention to this issue & this discussion. We mentioned recent public comments about the Law of the Sea Treaty and looked at the potential impact of the treaty on space development should theU.S. modify or adopt a version of the treaty. Toward the end of the first segment, Jerry sent in a note asking about comments made to the Washington Post by our guest on the number of test flights that might be needed for the Falcon 9, plus the response from NASA Watch. Dr. Pace talked about HSF flight safety, rocket testing programs, and how today differs from the early days of our human spaceflight history. Risk averseness was part of our conversation.

In our second segment, we talked about the rational for human spaceflight. Dr. Pace offered a geopolitical rational for HSF rather than just a capability driven program and rational. Here we talked about Asian countries emerging as space powers and participants along with what happens when we aim for Beyond LEO (BLEO) and the need to engage the new players. You will hear Dr. Pace advocate a return to the Moon several times during our program as that is a way to engage new players, plus we need to learn certain skills all over again before going BLEO. We switched topics & talked about increasing the NASA budget & treating NASA as an investment, not an expense. Dr. Pace brought our focus to what do we get for what we spend. Don’t miss this discussion. We talked about commercial crew, down selecting as an option, and competition. Dr. Pace put these issues into the form of a cost-benefit analysis project to be examined based on the goals of the desired or stated policy. Again, don’t miss his analysis of these issues. We also talked about the FAR and the SAA, insight, oversight, accountability, and higher costs coming from the FAR. Property rights & land claims were brought up along with space settlement issues. Listener Jim inquired about using the Dragon for BLEO missions. Scott had much to say about this potential. Toward the end, we talked about theU.S. budget deficit & what we spend on NASA, then I read a letter from two 5th grade students opposing space development & I asked Dr. Pace to provide us with his reply. We concluded our discussion with Dr. Pace honing in on the need for leadership here and abroad, along with the need for a robust economy.

Please post your questions/comments on The Space Show blog. If you want to email Dr. Pace, you can send your note to me & I will forward it to him.

Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: This was a special John Batchelor Show segment regarding the successful Dragon-ISS berthing. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. During our 11.5 minute segment, John and I talked about the berthing process and the implications for space, education, inspiration, and more as a result of this successful Falcon 9/Dragon mission. We also talked about the download capacity of Dragon and how this mission might impact students and their educational as well as career choices.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them on The Space Show blog per above. If you want to email John Batchelor, please do so through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

The Space Show congratulates SpaceX for the recent Falcon 9 launch and the successful Dragon berthing (docking) with ISS for supply delivery. We also congratulate NASA for their important role in stimulating commercial space access to ISS and for their valuable assistance to SpaceX for the COTS program. Finally, we applaud the previous administration for creating the COTS program in the first place.

SpaceX and NASA have changed history. We look forward to more successful COTS program participants and eventually with the commercial crew program. Despite delays and formidable challenges, SpaceX has demonstrated significant management successes and has developed technology and skill sets that only government programs have demonstrated in the past. NASA facilitated this accomplishment — a superb example of public/private partnerships

For all of us who advocate a true space faring future with commercial opportunities, wealth creation, and industrial development, the commercial space genie is out of the bottle and evolving.

Guest: Kevin Sloan. Topics: The 2012 Mars Society University Rover Challenge. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Kevin Sloan back to the program to discuss the Sixth Annual Mars Society University Rover Challenge (URC). Much of the information we discussed is on the URC website, http://urc.marssociety.org so do follow along with us. In addition, while this program contains the typical Space Show three segments, our URC discussion overlapped the segments so this summary has been written without separating out the discussion by segment. We started our program with Kevin by asking about the 2012 teams and the international makeup of the teams. You can check out this year’s contestants and their project websites at http://urc.marssociety.org/home/team-info. Kevin also talked about the site location which is as before, near Hanksville, Utah in the vicinity of the MDRS. As in past years, there are no facilities for visitors or those wanting to see the competition. We must wait for website pictures and news. Kevin explained the probable timing for releasing information during the challenge which runs from May 31-June 2, 2012. As with previous years, the contestants must have their rovers do four projects. These projects are described in Section 3.b of Rules & Regulations. When you go to this link, http://urc.marssociety.org/home/requirements-guidelines, click to download the data and then scroll down to 3.b. Briefly, the four tasks include a site survey task, a sample return task, a remote science documentation procedure, and an astronaut assistance task. We talked about the challenge being open to high school students, the gender makeup of the teams, potential ITAR issues for the foreign participants, and some general questions about Mars for HSF. We also talked about the Mars Society and some of its other programming. Listeners asked logistical and how to compete questions. We also mentioned the NASA news release about their receiving overwhelming new ideas for Mars missions. The URL I mentioned on air is http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/24may_newconcepts.

If you have questions or comments about our discussion, please post them on The Space Show blog. If you have specific questions for Kevin about the URC, there is a contact page on the URC website for you to use. Make sure you reference his being on The Space Show.

Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Scott Pace, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: Falcon 9 launch, Dragon & the ISS, commercial space. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. During our 11.5 minute segment, Dr. Scott Pace talked about the COTS program, the Falcon 9 launch and the expected Dragon Capsule rendezvous and birthing with the ISS. We spoke about COTS expectations, the challenges still ahead for the COTS participants, commercial crew questions, and price points for Dragon which may give it a huge advantage over competition from the European and Japanese ISS cargo resupply programs and vehicles. As our segment was about end, Dr. Pace talked about limited markets at this time but that the program was designed to help expand markets and opportunities beyond those of government. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog.

If you want to email John Batchelor or Dr. Pace, you can do so through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. Dr. Pace will be The Space Show guest for Sunday, May 27, 2012.

Guest: Dr. Jordin Kare. Topics: Beamed energy propulsion updates. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Dr. Jordin Kare back to the program for beamed energy propulsion (BEP) industry updates. Be sure to visit his website for more information, www.lasermotive.com. Our discussion started out by referencing two recent BEP studies involving NASA. The first, the Beamed Energy Propulsion Study was completed last year and was a joint study with DARPA. The newer study which is still being finalized is the NASA Ride The Light Project. As you will hear, these studies suggest technical feasibility but call into question basic economic questions such as is BEP worth it and who will pay for it. Dr. Kare and I then engaged in an interesting discussion about the NASA cost estimation compared to Dr. Kare’s cost estimation. I urge you to listen carefully to this discussion. You may find as I and others did that it explains a lot regarding economic challenges to our current space programs. A listener as Jordin about the costs for a laser demo project. Jordin then estimated costs depending on the type of demo project involved. Also, Jordin was quick to point out that the economic conclusions of the studies were not the kiss of death as I suggested so again, listen attentively to what he has to say about this matter. Ben emails us wanting to know how laser beamed energy works. Jordin then described the basics of BEP, requirements for the beam to always be hitting the rocket all the way to space, and many factors related to laser launch. We talked about the hydrogen fuel, the need to be in a cloud free location, and the theoretical limits to a BEP system. Basic ISP was discussed and Jordin compared to BEP to traditional chemical rockets and different fuels. BEP is about twice the ISP of a typical chemical rocket. Dr. Kare described the three schools of thought and approaches to BEP, and as the segment ended, he responded to a question about the space elevator concept.

In our second segment,Alice asked about the ease in getting federal grant money for BEP projects and we learned its not easy. A listener asked for a basic explanation of power beaming so Jordin took us through the power beaming and wireless power transmission concepts. We talked about near term commercial projects using lasers and here, Jordin directed us to his company, LaserMotive, as they are involved in several commercial projects unrelated to space. This is another interesting discussion, don’t miss it. A caller asked how the laser beam is kept aligned with the rocket as it accelerates to orbit. He also asked about problems resulting from the wobble. I asked about laser launch for HSF, launch abort issues, and a listener asked about the laser frequencies used. Other subjects included the military use of lasers, migratory birds, & thin film solar panels. As our program ended, Jordin was asked look at laser launch over the near and intermediate term plus if it could be used for sea launch.

Guest: Todd Halvorson. Topics: Upcoming Falcon 9 & Dragon launch, Floridaspace policy, NASA & more. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Todd Halvorson, senior aerospace reporter for FLORIDA TODAY & USA TODAY to the show. During our first segment, we mostly discussed the upcoming Falcon 9 launch scheduled for Saturday early morning, May 19 2012. Note that Florida Today is having special coverage and programming starting at 3:30 AM EDT. To tune in, visit www.floridatoday.com. Todd detailed the coverage at the start of our next segment. Also in the initial segment, we talked about Congress, commercial crew, down selecting, the Space Act Agreement, and theU.S. human spaceflight program, such that it is a program. Also mentioned was the SLS program along with Orion, then I asked about the space coast economy per the recent 60 Minutes segment last month. Todd had much to say about the 60 Minutes Segment, especially the visuals they used. Don’t miss it. Listener Jane asked about the differences in policy ideas between NewSpace and the old space crowd, especially the very well known astronauts who are most vocal in support of a more traditional NASA program. Todd had much to say about this and we talked about the future NASA as either a space tax service or an organization that explores BLEO. Another topic of interest dealt with the Chinese space program and going to the Moon. Our listener asked if Chinese space plans might start a space competition with theU.S. We then talked about the FY 13 budget for NASA and the possibility of doubling NASA’s budget as proposed by Dr. Tyson. As the segment ended, we discussed Planetary Resources and sought Todd’s perspective on what has been made public so far.

In the second segment, Todd went into detail about the Florida Today broadcast for the Falcon 9 launch. Terry called in to ask about the ISS GPS issue and then we asked Todd to describe what happens when Dragon gets to the vicinity of the ISS. The process goes on through Wednesday morning. Another listener asked for Todd’s analysis of the space program over his 25 year history of reporting space news. Our next topic honed in so the suborbital companies in Mojave, space tourism, and suborbital research. This discussion included spaceports inFlorida,California,Virginia,New Mexico and elsewhere. As our program was nearing its end, we talked about Constellation, Ares 1, SRBs, Dr. Mike Griffin, SLS, and civility. In his closing comments, Todd again said we should have a space program that explores and is not a space taxi service.

Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can email Todd through the Florida Today website.